Were you victimized by Rodan and Fields? Tell us about your experience.
Have you worked with Rodan & Fields or perhaps used some of their products and now you’re having a problem they won’t solve? Maybe you’re wondering if they are a pyramid scheme. You aren’t the first.
Rodan + Fields is a line of skin care products including things like eye care treatment, wrinkle treatment, and detox masks. These products are sold by individual consultants who make income on the sales commissions for selling the products as well as the commissions for recruiting other people.
Rodan is facing a class action lawsuit for their eyelash serum. The lawsuit claims that the company used:
“…deceptive and unlawful marketing of its Enhancements Lash Boost (“Lash Boost”) eye serum. Rodan + Fields failed to disclose the harmful effects linked to an ingredient in their Lash Boost product.”
The main ingredient that was the cause of this lawsuit is isopropyl cloprostenate which had side effects of creating iris cysts, inflammation of the iris, reactivation of herpes, ranking of fat cells resulting in eye droop, increased visibility of blood cells, darkening of the eyelids, increased pigmentation in the iris, and excessive eye pain or tearing. The FDA had previously issued a warning that this chemical was not safe to be used except under a licensed practitioner to treat glaucoma. The class-action lawsuit is seeking $5 million in damages for the inclusion of this product and the failure to disclose it.
In other legal matters, one of their consultants was arrested after she was filmed assaulting a black teenager and making racial statements, then assaulting the police officers.
In order to start as a consultant, someone who sells these products, you have to pay for the basic business kit which costs $45. The income disclosure statement shows that independent consultants can make quite a bit of money, depending on how well they perform within the company. In 2018 the income disclosure statements show that the top 1% of their consultants were paid more than $29,000 per year, the top 10% were paid more than $5,000 per year, but the top 50% were only paid $600 per year. That same report indicates that while there were just shy of 300,000 consultants enrolled, only 161,000 or 56% were paid consultants able to make a profit from any sales. The other 44% didn’t sell a single thing/make a profit and simply signed up to be a consultant so that they could get a discount on items that they purchased themselves.
However, the company does make it clear that you’re earning potential is not likely to be outlandishly large and is contingent upon what you sell. They do promote their product line almost as equally as they promote the use of recruiting and given that the company does offer a discount on purchase products for people who sign up to be a consultant one time, it does make sense of their numbers would slant in this direction.
They do not require their individual consultants to purchase regular amounts of the product on a regular basis, nor are the rewards for recruitment significantly higher than the rewards for sales commissions.
Just because they are not legally considered a pyramid scheme doesn’t mean they aren’t using deceptive sales tactics or practices, as evidenced by the current lawsuit involving the eyelash serum ingredients. That said, if you have had a problem with this company and they have yet to solve it, rest assured you still have options including consumer arbitration. We can help.
The Ultimate Guide to Consumer Complaints
Learn More